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Three lettuce cultivars gained an important value-added component to their already proven characteristics, such as tolerance to heat and the main diseases that affect the culture: the seeds of the cultivars BRS Leila, BRS Lélia and BRS Mediterrânea They are the first pellets among the portfolio of materials developed by Embrapa Hortaliças (Brasília-DF) that are being sold.
A process that consists of applying inert materials around the seeds, making them uniform in shape and increasing their size, pelletization is especially recommended for application to small, light and uneven seeds, such as lettuce seeds, and allows also the use of additional treatments, such as application of micronutrients and fungicides.
“Considering that most vegetable seeds are small and/or irregularly shaped, this is a practice commonly used for this group as an alternative to facilitate sowing and reduce losses”, comments Caroline Jácome, researcher in the field of vegetable technology. seeds.
In the case of lettuce, pelletization is even more recommended, in the opinion of researcher Warley Nascimento, who works in the area of vegetable seed technology and physiology. According to him, the small size of lettuce seeds makes it difficult to distribute them in trays during seedling production, which could affect plantability and consequently the establishment of seedlings, hence the importance of pelletization. But not just from that aspect.
“In addition to pelletization, the seeds of our cultivars undergo another treatment called physiological or osmotic conditioning (“seed priming”), which provides faster germination – two days compared to five or six days for other untreated seeds – and greater uniformity, in addition to being less affected by biotic (insect pests, fungi, bacteria, viruses and nematodes) and abiotic stresses (water deficit, low or high temperatures, salinity, etc.) during germination and seedling establishment”, highlights Nascimento.
For Fábio Suinaga, researcher and coordinator of the lettuce genetic improvement program, pelletization provides a greater degree of safety for horticulturists, who already have the tolerance to high temperatures presented by the cultivars BRS Leila, BRS Lélia and BRS Mediterrânea.
“These cultivars resist heat for up to ten days longer compared to other varieties and are better adapted to different production systems, whether in the open field, hydroponics or protected cultivation”, emphasizes the researcher, for whom the more technology put into the seed , greater safety for the horticulturist.
The lettuce cultivars were developed through a technical cooperation contract in partnership with the company Agrocinco, which is licensed to sell seeds, under the terms of the Technological Innovation Law (law no. 10.973, of December 2, 2004). For those interested in purchasing pelleted seeds, contact can be made by email at agrocinco@agrocinco.com or by phone (19) 3879-6787.
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